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THE 




illiamHkrj 



AND THE 



CHARGE OF TBE 24TH VIRGINIA, 



OF EARLY'S BRIGADE, 



Colonel RICHARD L. MAURY. 



The Immortal Twenty-fourth. — The Yankee General Hancock said that the 
Fifth North Carolina and the Twenty-fourth Virginia, for their conduct in 
battle before Williamsburg, ouglit to have this word inscribed upon their 
banners. The Twenty-fourth in the fight of yesterday vindicated its title to 
this honor. + * * +_ — Richviond Enquirer^ June 2, 1862. 



Richmond : 

Johns & Goolsby, Steam Printers. 

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Tlie Battle of Williiiiusburi' and the Charge of the Twenty-fourth 
Virginia of Early's Brigade. 

Tlie Immortal Tioenty-fotirth. — The Yankee General Hancock said that the 
Fifth North Carolina and the Twenty-fourth Virginia, for their conduct in 
battle before Willianii-bnrg-, ought to have this word inscribed upon their 
banners. The/rwenty-fourth in the fight of yesterday vindicated its title to 
this honor. + * * *_ — liickmoncl Enquirer^ June 2, 1862. 

The narratives of Colonel Bratton, of the Sixth South Carolina, 
and of Colonel McRae, of the Fifth North Carolina, published in 
the Po'pers of the Southern Historical Society for June and August 
last, describing the charge made by a small part of Early's brigade 
[the Twenty-fourth Virginia, supported by the Fifth North Carolina] 
at Williamsburg, upon a redoubt on our extreme left, defended by 
General Hancock with five regiments and ten guns, affords a proper 
occasion to record an account of the achievements there of the 
Twenty-fourth Virginia infantry, which bore the principal part in 
that action. This regiment opened the attack, drove the enemy 
before it, although his force was eight or ten titnes theirs, silenced 
his fire, and having advanced within twenty yards of the redoubt, 
was only stopped by orders from the division commander. Its 
daring and its dash won from the Major-General (D. H. Hill) this 
hearty commendation: "The courage exhibited by the Fifth North 
Carolina and the Twenty-fourth Virginia made too a wonderful 
impression upon the Yankees, and doubtless much of the caution 
exhibited in their subsequent movements was due to the terror 
inspired by the heroism of these noble regiments. History has no 
example of a more daring charge. ***** j^ contributed 
largely to detain McClellan, to demoralize his troops and to secure 
our retreat from a vigorous and harassing pursuit." And the 
commander of the forces attacked, General Hancock, declared that 
it should bear the word " immortal " upon its banner forever. 

The authors of the narratives referred to have failed to give this 
regiment the exceedingly prominent and conspicuous place in 
that charge to which accident and its own valor entitle it. The 
charge of Early's brigade w^as the charge of the Twenty-fourth 
Virginia, and the enemy's whole resistance was directed against 
its attack. This is evidenced by the fact that its whole heavy loss 
was incurred in its advance, while the Fifth North Carolina, the 
only other regiment of the brigade in the fight, in its gallant advance 



to support these Virginians, suffered scarcely at all, although in 
returning its losses were perhaps heavier. The writer, therefore, 
formerly Colonel of these sturdy mountaineers [at that time Major 
and commanding during the latter part of the action — Colonels Terry 
and Hairston having been wounded], feels that his duty to his gallant 
comrades, who so freely shed their blood on every field from Manassas 
to Appomattox, demands that he should show their title to the pre- 
eminence won by their valiant deeds in the estimation of friend and 
foe, and preserve in lasting memorial the proofs thereof. The more so, 
perhaps, because, owing chiefly to the active campaign upon which it 
then entered, no report or description, so far as known, of the part 
taken by this regiment at Williamsburg, has ever been made. None 
of the writer's superior officers witnessed the entire fight, for all were 
wounded before its close, and being himself wounded a few weeks 
afterwards at Seven Pines, he made no detached report of the 
Williamsburg charge. A very thrilling account was published by 
the newspapers of the day of the part taken by the Fifth North 
Carolina, which attracted much attention and is now on record ; 
so that the future historian, unless a careful critic as well, finding 
no description of the charge of the Virginians, would naturally 
conclude that they bore but a subordinate part. 

The Twenty-fourth Virginia infantry was one of the very first 
organized of the Virginia regiments. It was composed of com- 
panies raised in the mountain counties of Southwest Virginia, and 
as General Early was its first colonel, it was, particularly in the 
first days of the war, often spoken of as Early's regiment. It was 
formed in June, 1861, at Lynchburg, and proceeded forthwith to 
Manassas, where its Colonel was soon given a brigade, to which 
this regiment was attached. The appearance of this brigade upon 
the enemy's left flank at Manassas is stated by General Beauregard 
to have been the signal for the giving way of his line and the 
commencement of his flight. 

The regiment remained encamped near Union mills during the 
following winter, picketing the railroad near Burk's and Fairfax 
stations, and in the spring moved with the army to the Rappahan- 
nock and then down on the Peninsula. When it reached the 
Yorktown lines, it mustered for duty some seven hundred muskets. 
Its field officers were Colonel William R. Terry, of Bedford, pro- 
moted from captain of cavalry for gallantry at Manassas, a dashing 
soldier of many a battle whose scars he bears to this day ; Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Peter Hairston, of Henry, a very Bayard in looks 



and bearing, who was desperately wounded in the forefront of the 
charge at Williamsburg, and Major Richard L. Maury, of Richmond, 
the writer. 

The regiment served with increasing distinction from Manassas 
to Appomattox Courthouse. In the van at the former, it was also 
at the post of duty and honor at the latter, where its few ragged, 
battle scarred, limping survivors, heroes of a hundred victories, 
with hearts still as stout and courage as high as ever, with the 
writer, then their Colonel, laid down those bright muskets and 
gleaming bayonets which had been so eagerly seized just four 
years before to defend the rights and liberties of their dear Vir- 
ginia, and with which so well had they done their devoir that even 
in submission the world admired and all brave hearts applauded 
their dauntless deeds. 

At odd times, when the Army of Northern Virginia was inactive, 
the brigade of which this regiment formed part — and which, 
from its earliest engagements, seemed to have attracted the atten- 
tion of its commanders and gained their special confidence — went 
to Suffolk, North Carolina and Drury's Bluff in successful quests 
of glory and renown. After it was reorganized in 1862, Kemper 
commanded it, and Pickett was its Major-General until the sad dis- 
aster at Five Forks (1865). 

At Yorktown Early held the lines just outside the village. Out- 
numbered as the Confederates were, the incessant duty necessarily 
imposed upon them in picketing, skirmishing and constant watch- 
ing by night and day without relief, was wearing and arduous in the 
extreme. The weather was wet, the troops without shelter, the 
trenches full of mud and water and the supplies but scant. This 
exposure and hardship, greater than they had ever borne and so 
different from their snug quarters at Manassas, was quickly followed 
by sickness and disease, so that during the three weeks in the 
Yorktown trenches the seven hundred muskets of the Twenty- 
fourth Virginia were reduced to something like five hundred effec- 
tives. 

On the retreat to Williamsburg, commencing the night of May 
3d, Early's brigade was the rear guard — and the Twenty-fourth, 
being the left regiment, brought up the rear of all — the most 
fatiguing place, as every soldier knows, of the whole line of march. 

All this was truly an ill preparation for the desperate charge to 
be set before them so soon ; but let it not be forgotten in reckoning 
the glory of their deeds. 



The horrible roads are well remembered even now by all who 
passed them on that dark and rainy night. There had been con- 
stant rains for weeks and ceaseless use of every highway all the 
while. The mud and water were ankle and sometimes knee deep, 
and infantry were often called to help the weary horses drag wagons 
and artillery from holes and ruts in which the wheels had sunk 
up to the very axles. So the march was tedious and dragging and 
slow. The men fell asleep on the wayside as they halted for a 
moment, and sometimes not a mile in an hour was made. Thus 
morning found them scarcely half way to Williamsburg [fourteen 
miles], and midday had long gone by ere the rear passed through 
the gray old town, and, weary and jaded, were allowed to take 
whatever of rest a halt in an open field a mile or so beyond ajid 
a tentless bivouac in the pelting rain might afford. Supperless 
but not to sleep they lay upon the soaking ground that night, and 
without breakfast, Aveary, wet and hungry, but jolly in spirits, 
they are ready at daylight to resume their march. 

General Johnston had no intention of tarrying at Williamsburg, 
nor was the place defensible, for the enemy now had control of 
both James and York rivers on either flank and intended to push 
Franklin's division (30,000), kept on transports below Yorktown 
so as to move in a minute, rapidly up the York to West Point in 
the vain hope of getting in our rear. Our orders were that Magru- 
der should not halt at all and that the other divisions should take 
up their march to the Chickahominy at early dawn — Longstreet 
being in the rear. So Smith moved on at day, then the trains 
followed, and Hill's infantry were filing into the road when orders 
came to halt and then to return to town. 

The enemy's van had come up and was disposed to skirmish 
with the rear guard — fresh troops were arriving every moment — 
there was no time to wait to deliver a regular battle, for Franklin 
was already sailing up the York — but our trains were not well 
away and 'twas deemed prudent for Hill to tarry as Longstreet 
might need aid ; doubtless, too. General Johnston was not unwill- 
ing to turn and deal the enemy a blow to show how little demorali- 
zation his backward movement created, and how, though in retreat, 
his men were quite as ready and as able too to fight as when on a 
victorious advance. Thus Hill's trains went on, but his infantry 
and some artillery returned to W^illiamsburg and the former 
stacked their arms upon the college green and passed the day in 
waiting and expectancy, while the rain still fell and fell. 



Longstreet was being pressed more vigorously, the skirmish was 
becoming a fight just beyond the town and could be distinctly 
heard by all, and wounded and ambulances and prisoners passed 
frequently by. Every one looked for orders to the front each 
moment; amid such scenes and sounds the tension of expectation 
and excitement was most intense; meantime evening, dark, gloomy 
and cloudy, drew slowly on, when, suddenly, about three o'clock 
galloped up the looked for courier. " Move quickly to the support 
of Longstreet," said he. 

And now were seen a series of blunders by generals which, as 
often after, the priceless lives of our gallant soldiers were sacrificed 
to correct, and which in this brilliant Williamsburg charge caused 
the useless slaughter of the very flower of Early's brigade — for 
though it need never have been made, yet it ought to have been a 
grand success, and to have resulted in the easy capture of Han- 
cock's whole command, had due precaution been taken before 
commencing the attack and proper skill displayed in arranging, 
conducting and supporting it after it had been commenced. To 
make this clear one should recall the surrounding circumstances. 

The prudent forethought of General J. B. Magruder, who, with 
his troops, had so successfully held the lines from Yorktown to 
Mulberry island since the war began, had caused the construction 
of a cordon of redoubts just below Williamsburg, running entirely 
across the Peninsula from Queen's creek of York to James river. 
Commencing near Saunder's pond on the York side near where 
the road crosses it, this line runs northwest for a mile or more, in 
which space are three redoubts ; then due west some three hundred 
yards, passing another to Fort Magruder with several outlying 
smaller works, and thence westwardly in an irregular course, skirt- 
ing a stream and swamp, some two miles more, passing six redoubts 
to the road leading to Allen's wharf on Jarhe river. The centre of 
this line was Fort Magruder, a large, well constructed closed earth- 
work, located about one mile from Williamsburg on the main 
road running down the Peninsula, which, just beyond, falks into 
the Yorktown and the Warwick roads. 

The redoubts to the right, on the Jam^;river side, were all occu- 
pied by Longstreet's division, which relieved Hill — guarding the 
rear on the 4th — and whose obvious duty was to cover all the 
lines on which the enemy could advance. But this was not done ; 
for on the mornina; of the 5th none of these left works were occu- 



6 

pied in force, and only one or two of the nearest even with pickets.* 
Thus the left of the Confederate line of works, like that of the 
English at Preston Pass, was undefended, and one of the few 
passes across the swamps stretching along its front remained en- 
tirely open to the enemy. The redoubt constructed expressly to 
guard this passage seems not to have been considered worth a 
thought in the morning, when it could have been occupied without 
a loss, while in the eveningtime the lives of hundreds of the best 
of soldiers were thrown away in a fruitless attempt to regain it. 

Why were these redoubts not occupied ? They were constructed 
for just such an occasion ; for it was well known that the Yorktown 
lines would have to be evacuated sooner or later. General John- 
ston, in his narrative, pages 122-4, says he knew nothing of them, 
and so does Longstreet, and Hill, and Anderson, although they were 
all charged with their defence. Each is in sight from the other, 
and all are in a continuously open space. McLaws, of Longstreet's 
division, who occupied this part of the line the afternoon before 
with Kershaw's and Semmes' brigades, knew of them, for Colonel 
Marigny, with his Tenth Louisiana, occupied this very work [see 
McLaws' report of the battle of Williamsburg] until relieved by 
R. H. Anderson. Colonel Bratton, of the Sixth South Carolina, of 
Anderson's brigade, whose regiment was posted near the glacis of 
Fort Magruder, knew of them ; for he reported them unoccupied 
[see his narrative — Southern Historical Society Papers, June, 1879]. 
It would be interesting to know to whom he made this report. 
He also saw the Yankees later in the day take possession of that 
on the extreme left. Moreover, all the army had entered this en- 
trenched line at Fort Magruder, and when preparing to defend it, 
surely common prudence, not to say ordinary generalship, should 
have suggested the importance of ascertaining the position of its 
flanks; and it should not have been presumed, as seems to have 
been done, that so skilful a soldier as General Magruder had 
constructed but half a line of fortifications. And, indeed, the 
Commanding-General knew from the time he went to Yorktown, 
or very soon thereafter, that his army would soon withdraw [see 
Johnston's narrative, page 116], and this was the only road. It 
was apparent, too, that at or about Williamsburg would be the first 
halt, and it was to be expected that the enemy's van would come 
up with our rear here. If 'twas " prudent to construct these works " 

* See Colonel Bratton's slatemcDt, Southern Historical Papers, Jane, 1S79, page 299. Gen- 
eral Anderson says in his repoft • 'LMj not occupying these redoubt was perhaps a mistake, 
but I did not understand Lc- '^^ ' ■^'-ders to include them." 



[Johnston's narrative], would it not also have been prudent to 
ascertain their location ? 

But it is even stranger how Longstreet could have remained in 
ignorance of them, for they were in actual sight from Fort Magru- 
der, where he must have been both on the 4th and 5th. As 
McLaws occupied them on the 4th, why did not Anderson, who 
relieved him, occupy all the posts he occupied? Who relieved 
Marigny's Tenth Louisiana and how came that relief to be with- 
drawn afterwards? Can it be that Bratton, who was posted on the 
Confederate left on the 4th and 5th, relieved Marigny, who occu- 
pied this position, and that he was also in fault in not having 
occupied this left redoubt also? But all these mistakes, growing 
out of ignorance or carelessness, might have been avoided had 
General Magruder been assigned to the defence of the rear on that 
day, for he and his troops were perfectly familiar with the whole 
country — they had been stationed here all the previous autumn 
and winter, and had themselves laid out and built these very fortifi- 
cations. 

As the Confederate army entered these lines al)out noon of the 
4th, Longstreet, who led the van, and, by the usual routine, would 
be in the rear next day, halted just within, while the remainder of 
the forces marched on past Williamsburg. In the afternoon the 
enemy's van appeared, driving in the cavalry, and McLaws, with 
Semmes' and Kershaw's brigades, went back to these lines, and the 
Yankee van retired. That evening McLaws was relieved, as already 
said, by R. H. Anderson, commanding the brigades of Anderson 
and Pryor. In the morning, after much skirmishing, without ad- 
vantage to the enemy, he appeared on the right in force under 
Hooker, attacking with spirit, but, though reinforced by Kearney, 
he was pressed back, driven and almost routed.* Here was fighting 
pretty much all day, but night found Longstreet holding his posi- 
tion, while the enemy seemed cured of any desire to again molest 
the Confederate rear "" 



* Testimony before Congressional Committee on Conduct of War. Part I, pages 353-569. 

t On the retreat the van of to-day is the rear guard to-morrow. Such was the custom of 
the Army of Northern Virginia — and Longstreet having led the first day, was rear guard the 
second. Was he in fmat at starting because General Johnston hail found him, as afterwards 
General Lee did, "slow to move," and therefore started him first? Possibly, for the evacu- 
ation of the Yorktown lines had been ordered on a previous night, and D. IL Hill had moved 
out bag and baggage at the appointed time for a mile or more, hut was then halted until 
nearly day, and then ordered back to his former position. Fortunately the enemy had not 
discovered his absence— a bit of rare good luck not to have been expected. It was then 
currently reported that the waiting had been for Longstreet, and as he had not moved out 
in time for the army to get well away before dawn, it was necessary to return. 



Sumner, with 30,000 men, had also come up early on the 5th, 
but had sat quietly down across the Yorktown road, just out of 
sight and range. Although in command — for McClellan seems to 
have considered that the position for the general-iu-chief on a pur- 
suit was fifteen miles in rear, and had remained below Yorktown* — 
he took no part in what was going on around him; and though 
importuned for aid by both Hooker and Kearney, who were 
"almost routed," he declined to part with a man; and when Han- 
cock, finding the empty redoubt on the left, ventured into it, he 
actually commanded him to return. In fact, he seems to have 
forgotten that he was in pursuit of what was described as a flying 
and demoralized enemy, and though himself in command, and 
holding the van, his chief object on finding the foe seems to have 
been to let him well alone. 

Not so Hancock, one of his subordinates, who was made of 
sterner stuff, and who had other views of the duties of pursuers of 
a flying foe; for on the morning of the 5th, between 10 and 11 
o'clock, leaving Sumner at Whittaker's, full half a mile or more 
from the nearest Confederate line, he takes his own brigade and 
part of Maglee's — five regiments — and ten guns, in all probably over 
4,000 men, and learning that one of the redoubts on the extreme 
left of the Confederate line was unoccupied, he crosses Saunders' 
pond and marches into it, and then, in the language of the Comte 
de Paris, " seeing no enemy, he fearlessly proceeded to march into 
the next." But on approaching it, he perceives Rratton, with part 
of his Sixth South Carolina, preparing to oppose him, whereupon, 
although in far greater force, he halts, falls back, and calls for. aid. 
But Sumner seems to have been in no mood to detain the "flying 
foe," and orders Hancock to retire. The latter, well knowing the 
lucky prize he had found, determined to stay ; so falling back from 
the " fearless advance," spoken of by the Comte de Paris, to the 
redoubt he first occupied, he makes his dispositions for a stand, 
and Bratton, with commendable care, that might well have been 
imitated that day by others of higher rank, extends a line of pickets 
from his m'ain body across Hancock's front and into the woods 
beyond. The latter gets his guns into battery, and occasionally 
throws a chance shot or shell here and there at a venture, but with 
but little damage, if any. Thus the daj^ wore on. Towards even- 
ing, this artillery fire becoming somewhat annoying to Fort Ma- 

*Evl(lenceof Governor Sprague aatl othel-s l)efore Congressional Committee on Conduct 
of War. 



9 

gruder, 'tis said, although Hancock showed no signs of making use 
of the position he had stumbled upon, which, in fact, was the key- 
to the entire Confederate line, and opened to the enemy a road to 
Williamsburg, as well as to Longstreet's rear, D. H. Hill and 
Early, anxious to have a share in the day's work, asked and ob- 
tained leave to assault General Hancock and drive him away. 
There ajjpears to have been no necessity for this, however, for 
Hancock's fire had done no damage all day, and was not more 
harmful now — the fighting was well-nigh over — and he himself 
was preparing to fall back further for the night. (See Hancock's 
report, battle of Williamsburg.) The Confederates had beaten off" 
every attack made upon them, and the whole line was to be aban- 
doned before morning. Nevertheless the leave was given, with a 
charge from General Johnston " to be careful." 

Forthwith Hill brings his command to the front. Early's brigade, 
eager for the first of a hundred battle^, coming from the college green 
at the double-quick through the narrow streets of the old historic 
town, where the cheers and the tears of the women and the maidens 
at doors and windows waving adieux as they pass so quickly by, 
and the unaccustomed sight of dead, wounded and prisoners 
brought up from the field to which they were hurrying, the rapid 
motion, the galloping of artillery, couriers and staff", with all the 
burning excitement of the approach to battle, sent the blood 
coursing through their veins, which tingles even now as but the 
memory of it all flushes the cheek and brightens the eye, though 
eighteen long years have passed away. 

The brigade hurries half a mile or more down the Yorktown 
road, files short to the left, passes through a newly plowed, soft 
and muddy field half a mile further, and forming into line behind 
a wood, which screens from sight all beyond, breathless, hot and 
heavy of foot from rapid motion over such a ground, halts and 
prepares to load. Thus formed, it consists of the following regi- 
ments, counting from the right : The Fifth and Twenty-third North 
Carolina, commanded respectively by Colonels Duncan K. McRae 
and Hoke; and the Thirty-eighth and Twenty-fourth Virginia, 
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Powhatan B. Whittle and 
Colonel William R. Terry ; the Twenty-fourth Virginia being thus 
on the left, and the Fifth North Carolina on the right. This brigade 
is assigned to the attack, and the remainder of the division — the 
brigades of Rodes, Featherston and Rains, with the second com- 
2 



1Q» 

pany of Richmond howitzers— is held in reserve close by. Major- 
General D. H. Hill will lead and takes special charge of the right 
wing, the two North Carolina regiments ; and the Virginians, of the 
left, will be led by General Early. 

Regardless of the rule which places commanding officers in rear 
of the line in a charge, Early, with his staff, takes position in front 
of his old regiment, the Twenty-fourth, and its field-officers, all 
mounted, do likewise. The order is given to load and then to fix^ 
bayonets — and the guns are loaded and the bayonets fixed. In a 
few words. Early, addressing his men, says they are to assault and 
capture a battery " over there," pointing to the woods— and grimly 
adding, that their safest place, after getting under fire, will be at 
the very guns themselves, advises all to get there as quickly as 
possible. Expectation is on tiptoe, and many a gallant heart, in 
generous emulation, resolves to be the first to reach these guns. 
With only these few moments of halt to regain breath, the order 
is given to march, and the line moves forward.* 

The generals did not know the position of the redoubt to be 
attacked, nor even its exact direction from where the line was 
formed ; yet no skirmishers were thrown forward to discover it, 
nor was any proper reconnoissance made.f The latter might easily 
have been done, for from the point where Bratton was with the 
Sixth South Carolina, he had a view of the whole field, and his 
pickets extended from his redoubt into the woods whence Early's 
brigade was soon to emerge. But these ordinary precautions do not 
seem to have been thought of, and the Major-General, arranging his 
forces to attack a strong enemy in a strong position, only to be ap- 
proached across a large open boggy field (in his report he says it was 
half a mile wide), without knowledge of their numbers or location, 
and without reconnoissance or skirmishes, sounded the charge and 
ordered the advance. The disposition of the supports were made 
with equal lack of skill, for the three additional brigades and the 
battery of artillery, as brave and gallant soldiers as ever fired a 
gun, though close at hand, were never brought upon the field at 
all, and the attack failed for want of their aid. They were ample 

* This little halt was even briefer tor the writer and his part of the regimeut thau for the 
other portions of the brigade. In the run down from Williamsburg, the line had become 
open and much extended. The Twenty-fourth Virginia was in the rear, and the writer's part 
of it in rear of all ; so that when the halt was made, and line of battle formed, it was the 
last to get into position, and had barely time to load before the march forward began. 

t Colonel Bratton's narrative, Sontheni HUtorical Society Paperti, .June, 1879, pages 299-300. 
Colonel McRae'j narrative, Southern Hiiitnrical Societtj Papers, August, 18T9, page .S64. 



11 

for the purpose, for they outnumbered the foe, and were quite 
sufficient to have captured General Hancock and his five regiments 
and ten guns, one and all, who were far in advance of General 
Sumner, and who could only retreat by a narrow road over Saun- 
ders' pond. 

From all this want of generalship, skill and care, arose great 
confusion and greater misfortune. Not knowing exactly the loca- 
tion of the point of attack, it was scarcely possible that the line 
of battle would be properly arranged with regard to it, and so it 
happened ; for when at last it came in sight of the enemy, in- 
stead of the centre being opposite the point attacked, as should 
have been, with the line moving directly upon it, the extreme left 
(the left of the Twenty-fourth Virginia) was opposite the battery, 
and the remainder of the brigade away off to the right, and moving 
in a direction across the enemy's front. These sturdy old muske- 
teers — some of whom were not ina]^ military scholars, and by dint 
of comparing notes, careful observation, and an occasional book or 
two, had learned as well how a battle should be set in order as 
many a general officer — understood from the advance being thus 
commenced without skirmishers, and from General Early's little 
address before starting, that they were as close upon the position 
to be attacked as could be, that the charge commenced then and 
there, that the battery to be taken was just over the wood, a hun- 
dred yards distant perhaps, and that they would fall upon the foe 
in a moment. 

With this impression upon their minds, it was difficult to re- 
strain the impatient valor and restlessness of the men as they moved 
off, but still they advanced across the field steadily, and, preserving 
their alignment well, though with more rapid step, they entered the 
woods. Here the miry ground, the dense and tangled under- 
growth, dripping with wet, and the large fallen timber, somewhat 
impaired the line, which increasing excitement, running higher 
every moment, which was thought would bring them under fire, 
rendered it difficult for the officers to correct. Still every one 
pressed forward with all the strength he had left; there was no 
halting, only greater speed, though every moment less breath and 
more fatigue. But no enemy is seen yet. They have left the field 
whence they started, they have traversed the tangled Avoods down 
the hill, across a county road, into the forest again and up another 
slope, but heavy, weary, breathless, and almost broken down, and 
still no foe is found, although half a mile and more has been 



12 

passed. But now light appears ahead, the trees are thinner, and a 
large open field is seen towards the right and in front. It is there 
that the redoubt and the battery and the enemy must be. The 
glorious Virginians press forward towards it, and in a moment 
more are on the edge of the opening, seeing before them, like a 
picture, the cordon of Confederate redoubts stretching away to Fort 
Magruder; that on the extreme left, directly in face of the left of the 
Twenty-fourth Virginia, is occupied by the enemy, whose entire 
force of five regiments and ten guns are well advanced in the field 
directly in front of it. As yet the Confederates have not been 
noticed. Ah ! why were not these brave spirits marched quietly to 
this point and formed, where all could have seen and clearly un- 
derstood the work before them ! then indeed would it have been 
done, and well done, and done quickly. 

The enemy is seen for the first time; for the first time is seen 
the battery to be taken. His line faces rather to the southwest, 
while the advance is from th* west. Owing to the unfortunate 
manner in which the attack was arranged, the Twenty-fourth alone 
sights the enemy, is much nearer to him, and issues from the woods 
some time before any other part of the brigade. Immediately upon 
seeing the Yankees, they spring forward into the open with re- 
newed energy, and remembering the address of Early, who is 
riding just before them, they press heartily onwards to lose not a 
moment in closing with those ten guns and four thousand muskets 
of General Winfield Hancock. 

But the wild advance, at such a foolish speed, and over such a 
heavy ground, had brought disorder on the line. The two middle 
regiments are not to be seen, and do not issue from the woods at 
all during the entire action, while the right regiment. Colonel 
McRae's, does not reach the open until the Twenty-fourth Virginia 
had been well engaged for some time and was driving the enemy 
back; and when it does enter the field, 'tis far to the right where 
no enemy was, and, in fact, in rear of Bratton's line. 

Thus, as it leaves the woods, the Twenty-fourth Virginia, alone 
and unsupported, with both flanks in the air, finds itself confronted 
by ten guns, defended by five regiments of intantry, with a strong 
redoubt in their rear. Clinging instinctively to the skirt of woods 
bordering the field on its left flank, so as to mask its weakness as 
well as might be, and opening out its files as far as possible to cover 
the foe's five regiments, these fearless mountaineers break at once 
into the double-quick and charge with a wild cheer that thrills 



13 

through every heart. At once they are heavily engaged. In 
opening their files, several of the largest companies on the right 
became detached, and mistaking the redoubt held by Bratton for 
the objective point, rushed towards it* But the remainder go 
straight on, and the brunt of the affair falls upon the left wing, 
led by the writer, they being closest to and moving directly upon 
the foe, and receiving the fire both from front and flank. The 
advanced force delivered a steady volley at most uncomfortably 
short range and then give way, retreating towards the redoubt. 
As they retire, the guns, which have already been hurried back, 
again open ; and these Virginians, but a portion of the Twenty- 
fourth regiment, weary and breathless, already shattered by shot 
and shell, receive Hancock's whole fire of musketry, shell, grape 
and canister, as, pressing over the field with undaunted courage, 
they approach nearer and nearer the foe. None halt or hesitate, 
but all rush forward with a vigor hardly to be paralleled and now 
with a silence that would do honor to the first veterans on record, 
though to many 'tis their first fight. A spirit of death or victory 
animates every bosom ; and mindful of Early's advice, each one 
anxious to be the first at these guns, they still press on, not so 
quickly, perhaps, as they would have done had they not been ex- 
hausted by their run through field and forest, but still without 
delay, and the enemy all the while gives way before them, though 
some of his regiments tarry longer than others. 

The leaden hail was fearful ; it poured in from front and either 
flank, and for the first time was heard the barbarous explosive 
bullet which the Yankees introduced and used. The artillery, too, 
was well served, and soon both grape and canister were cutting 
through the wheat with a terribly suggestive sound, carrying down 
many a brave spirit, and men and officers fell dead and wounded 
on every side. Yet the advance is maintained; down a slope first, 
and up again on the further side — still on and on. The regiment 
soon finds that it is alone ; it knows that '' some one has blundered," 
and marvels that the supports are nowhere seen, and that the Major- 
General, with his part of the brigade, does not appear. Still none 
falter or cast a look behind. They are pressing the enemy well 

* This separation furnishes the explanation of part of Colonel Bratton's somewhat involvert 
account of this affair In the Historical Society Papers for June, 1879. He speaks of the 
" Twenty-fourth regiment " and of " Early's regiment " as if they were two regiments, mis- 
taking these companies thus separated for a distluct regiment. The officer he speaks of as 
Lieutenant-Colonel Early was doubtless the gallant Captain Sara. Henry Early, of General 
Early's staff.— K. L. M. 



t 

14 

back, though receiving deadly wounds meantime, for his attention 
is engrossed by this attack, and the Virginians are drawing his 
whole fire. Gray-haired old Coltraine, of Carrol, that gallant, 
staunch old soldier, is well in front, his colors already pierced with 
many a bullet, and men and officers press quickly on unchecked 
by the murderous fire directed upon them. The ground is soft 
and yielding; the wheat half knee high, drenched with rain, clings 
heavily to the legs, and many trip and stumble and sometimes fall. 
The flag staff is shattered, but Coltraine grasps the staff and 
cheerily waves the siken folds in front. Away to the right is seen the 
gallant Fifth North Carolina coming up at the double-quick to our 
aid, led by that preaux chevalier, Colonel Duncan McRae, his horse 
briskly trotting in advance. A cheer bursts forth and all take 
heart and still press forward. But the Virginians are much nearer 
the redoubt, and the enemy, regardless of the approaching supports, 
still concentrated all their fire upon this devoted band, and with 
terrible efiect. Early's horse has been shot, and in another moment 
he himself receives a wound, the efifect of which his bended form 
still shows. Terry, too, that gallant leader, ever in the van of many 
an after battle, has gotten the first of frequent shots full in the 
face, and the dauntless Hairston also goes down desperately 
wounded ; so the writer, then but a youth, finds himself for the 
first time in command of his regiment, and the only mounted 
officer there.* Captains Jennings and Haden, and Lieutenant 
Mansfield, too, the bravest of all these braves, lie dead upon the 
ground. Lieutenant Willie Radford, soldier and scholar, has 
freely given up his young life, so full of bloom and promise, in 
defence of home and dear native land, and lies with his face up 
to heaven and his feet to the foe, his noble brow, so lately decked 
with University honors, now pale and cold in death, and his Captain 
[afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Bently], ever present in the field 
from Manassas even to Appomattox, fell bleeding by his side many 
yards in front of their company, and Captain Lybrock and Lieu- 
tenant Shockley, too, fall wounded to the earth. But no pause is 
made. Ten minutes — fifteen — have passed while they cross that 
field of blood, and every other man is down. But the supports are 
approaching; not all the rest of the brigade, as was expected — or a 
part of the division, fresh and in order — but only a single regiment, 
the gallant Fifth North Carolina, who, seeing what odds the Vir- 

*The Fifth North Carolina, with all its mouuted officers, had not yet gotten up to the more 
advanced position of the Twentj'-fourth Vii'giuia. 



15 

ginians were fighting, had, as soon as it emerged into the field and 
found no enemy confronting them, sought leave to march towards 
the firing and were now hastening to an awful destruction in their zeal 
to share that glorious field. The enemy, too, fall back more quickly 
as they see reinforcements coming up, and run into and behind 
the redoubt, to which they have all retreated now. Confusion has 
seized upon them there, for the Virginians are within twenty 
yards and show no signs of halting. The fire of the enemy 
slackens, and as their assailants reach the fence of substantial rails 
with a rider, ceases entirely. The order to their artillery to " cease 
firing " and "limber up " is distinctly heard, and some of the guns 
are actually run off"; the infantry, too, are in great tumult, their 
bayonets seem tangled and interlocked, some run into the fort, 
many make off" to the rear, and voices calling to others to halt and 
stand steady are clearly heard. In a word. General Winfield Han- 
cock's five regiments and ten guns have been attacked and driven 
in by a single Virginia regiment, *d are now on the point of 
being routed. 

As the Twenty-fourth gains the fence just spoken of, the enemy 
having ceased firing entirely, it pauses a moment to breathe and 
reform its scattered line, preparatory to a last dash — no man thinks 
of turning back, for the enemy is retreating before them — and here, 
too, now are their gallant comrades fresh and eager for a share in the 
struggle. While the men were in the act of climbing this fence, the 
writer seeking a gap where his horse could pass. Adjutant McRae 
communicated to him General Hill's order to retire immediately; 
whereupon, anticipating that the enemy would reform and open 
with terrible eff"ect at such short range as soon as the backward 
movement was perceived, the regiment was obliqued into the woods 
upon which its left flank rested, and, retiring thus under cover, 
came off without further damage. 

Not so its gallant comrades, who, having advanced with but little 
loss, and just rectified their alignment behind the fence, were now 
in perfect line right under the enemy's guns. Their retreat was 
across a broad, open field; and as they faced about, the foe, quickly 
rallying and reforming, more than five or six times their number, 
hurled shot and shell through their devoted ranks with awful de. 
struction. The retreat was the signal for slaughter, and, as Colonel 
McRae says, the regiment " was scarcely harmed at all till the re- 
treat began " — the loss was desperate in a few moments afterwards. 
\_Southern Historical Society Papers, August, 1879, page 362.] Before 



16 

they recrossed that fearful field, the best blood of all the Old North 
State fed the fresh young wheat at their feet, and a hundred Caro- 
lina homes were cast into direful mourning and distress. 

And all for what? Had the regiments been allowed to go on, 
the redoubt would have been captured without further loss, and 
held until some one had thought of reinforcing them with part of 
the three remaining brigades of the division, or with the other two 
regiments of their own brigade, all of whom were within a thou- 
sand yards. If McRae had not come up, and by sending his 
Adjutant back, furnished the Major-General with a ready messen- 
ger, by whom to order the ti'oops to retire, it seems that the 
Twenty-fourth regiment would have been left, as had already been 
done, to press forward alone until it reached the works, into which 
a few might have gotten, as they afterwards did at Gettysburg, in 
the great charge of Pickett's division, where, by a singular coinci- 
dence, the line attacked was in charge of this same General Han- 
cock. Then, as at Williamsburg, a handful left to dash themselves 
to atoms upon the enemy's entrenchments, while abundant sup- 
port, stood quietly by and watched the fruitless onslaught. 

Well, indeed, might friend and foe write highest laudations of 
so gallant a charge! rarely equalled, and never surpassed, in all the 
resplendent record of that ever glorious army. The blow thus 
delivered, at the very opening of that memorable campaign, not 
only stunned the enemy — who never attacked again on the Penin- 
sula! — but furnished the whole army with an inspiring example, 
which could not but have an admirable effect. 

The glowing language of General Hill's report has already been 
cited. Colonel (now General) Bratton, who was an eye-witness of 
the whole affair [although he seems to have had but a confused 
recollection of the regiments engaged], says: "The Twenty-fourth 
Virginia meantime emerged from the wood nearer the enemy than 
my redoubt, and moved in fine style upon them. * * * j have 
never on any field, during the war, seen more splendid gallantry 
exhibited than on that field at Williamsburg." ^Southern Historical 
Society Papers, June, 1879, pages 301-2.] And a captain of Her 
Majesty's Scotch Fusileers, who was in Hancock's redoubt, and saw 
the charge, made himself known next day to Dr. George T. Harri- 
son, Surgeon of the Twenty-fourth, left at Williamsburg to attend 
the wounded, saying that he did so because he understood the 
Doctor belonged to the Twenty-fourth Virginia, and he desired to 
tell him that during his entire Crimean experience, he had never 
seen more gallantry displayed upon a field of battle. 



17 

Nor were the foes unwilling to declare their admiration or to 
testify to the impression made upon them by these dashing 
soldiers. 

General Hancock declared that they should have "immortal" 
written upon their banner forever; and although he had, as already 
said, five regiments of infantry and ten guns— 4,000 men— he called 
loudly and frequently for reinforcements, which, to the extent of 
three brigades (Smith's two and Naglee's), General McClellan sent 
him immediately after his arrival from the rear.* The latter con- 
sidered this action the most important of the entire battle. He 
made it the chief subject of his first two telegrams to Lincoln, 
pronouncing Hancock's conduct brilliant in the extreme (his loss 
was only twenty). And in his official report, written more than a 
year afterwards, he characterized it as one of the most brilliant en- 
gagements of the war, and declared that General Hancock merited 
the highest praise! So far from pressing the Confederates, as he 
had boasted he would do, after this day's work he sat quietly down 
in the ancient borough of Williamsburg, while these same "de- 
moralized and flying" Confederates sauntered up to the Chicka- 
hominy at their leasure, pausing on the route to reorganize their 
regiments whose period of service had expired, and to elect their 
officers! Nor did General McClellan ever again try the experi- 
ment of attacking General Johnston's men. 

A few days after (May 9, 1862) the following animated account 
of the charge appeared in the columns of the New York Herald: 

* * * "From the sharp fire of our skirmishers in the woods 
on our left, came the first information of a movement in that direc- 
tion, and thus put all on the alert. * * * The fire grew hotter 
in the woods, and in a few moments, at a point fully half a mile 
away from the battery, the enemy's men began to file out of the 
cover and form in the open field. It was a bold and proved an 
expensive way to handle men. Wheeler opened his guns on the 
instant, and the swath of dead that subsequently marked the course 
of that brigade across the open field began at that spot. At the 
same moment also our skirmishers in the field began their fire. 
Still the enemy formed across the opening with admirable rapidity 
and precision, and as coolly too as if the fire had been directed 
elsewhere, and then came on at the double-quick step in three 
distinct linesf, firing as they came. All sounds were lost for a few 
moments in the short roar of the field-pieces, and in the scattered 

* It is noteworthy, that although McClellan's army was in pursuit of a retiring foe, he 
himself, instead of being in the van, remained below Yorktown, nearly twenty miles away 
during the entire fight.— R. L. M. 

t A mistake, for the Twenty-fourth Virginia was the only regiment making the attack from 
this point.— K. L. M. 



18 

rattle and rapid repetition of the musketry. Naturally their fire 
could do us but little harm under the circumstances, and so we had 
them at a fair advantage, and every nerve was strained to make 
the most of it. Still they came on. They were dangerously near. 
Already our skirmishers on the left had fallen back to their line, 
and those on the right had taken cover behind the rail fence leading 
from the house to the woods, whence they blazed away as earnestly 
as ever. Yet the guns are out there, and they are what these 
fellows want, and in the next instant the guns are silent. For a 
moment, in the confusion and smoke, one might almost suppose 
that the enemy had them, but in a moment more the guns emerge 
from the safe side of the smoke cloud, and away they go across the 
open field to a point near the upper redoubt, where they are again 
unlimbered and play away again. Further back also go the skir- 
mishers.* And now for a moment the Rebels had the partial cover 
of the farm and out-buildings, but they saw that they had all their 
work to do over, and so came on again. Once more they are in 
the open field, exposed to both artillery and musketry, but this time 
the distance they have to gof§ not so great, and they move rapidly. 
There is thus a another dangerous line of infantry; they are near 
to us, but we are also near to them. Scarcely a hundred yards 
were between them and the guns,t when our skirmish line became 
silent. The lines of the Fifth Wisconsin and the Thirty-third New 
York formed up in close order to the right of the battery, the long 
range of musket barrels came level, and one terrible volley tore 
through the Rebel line. In a moment more the same long range 
of muskets came to another level, the order to charge with the 
bayonet was given, and away went the two regiments with one glad 
cheer. Gallant as our foes undoubtedly were, they could not stand 
that. But few brigades mentioned in history have done better than 
that brigade did. For a space, generally estimated at three-quarters 
of a mile, they had advanced under the fire of a splendidly served 
battery, and with a cloud of skirmishers stretched across their 
front, whose fire was very destructive, and if, after that, they had 
not the nerve to meet a line of bayonets that came towards them 

like the spirit of destruction incarnate, it need not be wondered 

„f * * * * * * 

" This was the fight of the day — a fight that was in itself a hard 
fought and beautiful battle — a battle in which each side must have 
learned to respect the courage of the other, and which shed glory 
on all engaged in it. Diff'erent statements have been made as to 
the enemy's force. * * * It is probable that there were two 
brigades, or part of two. One of them was Early's, and comprised 
the Fifth North Carolina and Twenty-fourth Virginia regiments 
and a Georgia regiment, and dead were found on the field in the 
uniform of the Louisiana Tigers. It would probably be safe to 
state their force at three thousand. "| 

*llie "skirmishers" here spoken of were evirtently the main boily itself. See General 
Hancock's oitlcial report of the arrangement of his regiments.— R. L. M. 

t The artillery, after retiring, had iiulirabered again in rear of the redoubt.— R. L. M. 

t The Twenty- fourth Virginia did not carry as many as six hundred into that charge. Tlie 
orce of the Fifth North Carolina was about the same.— K. L. M. 



19 

In General Hancock's official report, it is stated that the retiring 
regiments abandoned upon the field one of their battle-flags, which 
his men found and brought in; but this was not the Twenty- 
fourth's colors; for trusty old Coltraine never losed his grasp upon 
his precious charge, and having borne it proudly aloft as well in 
the advance as the retreat, it to-day droops sadly in the library in 
the capitol at Richmond, faded, tattered and pierced with many a 
bullet, but pure and unpolluted by touch of hostile hand. 

In his first dispatch to Lincoln, General McClellan slates that 
Hancock had repulsed Early's brigade by a real charge with the 
bayonet, and this statement is agaii ind again repeated, until Mr. 
Swinton, generally accurate, amplifi upon it thus: "A few of the 
enemy who approached nearest the lOrt were bayoneted " — [Army 
of the Potomac, Swinton, page 116]— ^and he adds a note: "This is 
official." Rather a doubtful verificatfon, seeing the exceeding great 
difference in those days between facile and official accounts thereof. 

Now, doubtless, by all the laws of war, five regiments and ten 
guns, drawn in line on ground of their own selection, when attacked 
by a single regiment in the open and unsupported, instead of 
giving back and retreating (some by orders and some without), or 
even "feigning to retreat," as Mr. Swinton says (page 116), should 
have held their ground, and when the venturesome regiment came 
up, quietly taken them prisoners — or, perhaps, they might have 
sallied out and captured it as it advanced. And similarly when 
this numerous force, abandoning the position they had chosen, and 
"feigning to retreat," had run into and behind the redoubt they 
were set to defend, five regiments and ten guns should not have 
allowed two, with unsupported flanks, to approach them within 
twenty or thirty yards, and utterly silence their fire, without giving 
them a taste of cold steel. 

But so in fact it was. And in answer to General McClellan and 
Mr. Swinton and others, the writer hereof, who led the charge of 
" those who approached nearest the fort"; who himself aj)proached 
it as near, or nearer, than any other of the assailants, and there 
remained for several minutes; who being mounted had ample 
opportunity of seeing all that transpired in front ; who entered the 
field as soon as any of his regiment, and left it later than all save 
those poor fellows who lay upon the sod, affirms that so far from 
any bayonet charge having been ipaade upon the Twenty-fourth 
Virginia, that, as already stated, its advance was steady and unin- 
terrupted from the commencement of the action till it reached the 
fence, and was ordered to retire ; that during that advance the 



20 

enemy was driven all the while before it, till they reached their 
redoubt, and that, in fact, the latter never advanced a foot while 
this regiment remained upon the field. Any charge made by them, 
therefore, must have been after the Twenty-fourth had retired ; and 
if, as Mr. Swinton says, any of those who approached nearest the 
fort were bayoneted, it must have been after they were dead 
wounded or prisoners. 

The only approach to the use of the bayonet which the writer 
saw or heard of on that day (and his opportunities for knowing 
all that occurred there were of the best), was when Private Kirk- 
bride, of Carroll, frantic at the fall of his brother, ran down a 
Federal officer (a captain of the Fifth Wisconsin), and was about 
to plunge his bayonet into, him. Hearing the earnest call of the 
officer for quarter, across t^e field above the din of battle, and 
seeing that there was no time to spare if the man was to be saved, 
the writer galloped to where he was, shouting to Kirkbride to 
hold. The officer begging to surrender, tendered his sword, and 
unbuckling the belt, with scabbard and pistol, asked that he might 
be put under guard forthwith ; but was told that there was no 
time to tarry for his pistol, and no men to spare for his guard, and 
he had better get to the rear ; and Kirkbride and his companion 
hastened on. This occurred but a short time before the fence was 
reached and the order was given to retire, so that the Federal soon 
after found himself with his friends again, some of whom (General 
Hancock himself among them, it is believed) sent the writer soon 
after, by exchanged prisoners, hearty acknowledgments and thanks 
for saving their comrade's life. 

General McClellan, with his usual exaggeration when counting 
Confederate soldiers, reported that Hancock had captured two 
Colonels, two Lieutenant-Colonels, and killed as many more. As a 
matter of fact, he captured none, and the only field-officer killed 
was the heroic Budham, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth North 
Carolina, a very impersonation of courage itself. They claimed to 
have killed the writer also ;, but in this, as in many other state- 
ments, they were greatly in error. 

Richard L. Maury, 
Late Colo7iel Twenty-Fourth Virginia Infantry. 



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